My first completed project

[nothing]

Made these boxes for my wife and parents. It's my first real woodworking project past carpentry. Made from andiroba and hard maple.

Wife's box:




Parent's box:

[shoottx]

Very Cool

pretty fancy wood and joinery for a first project. Congrats

[herb fellows]

If that's your first, you should stick with it! I can't wait to see what you do when you're 'experienced'! Beautiful!

[bigstick509]

[Uncle Cracker]

Excellent! It's a satisfying feeling, ain't it?

[Richard in Smithville]

Nice work on the miters. Very tight. How about some construction and finishing details. We would love to hear more.

[jhart]

Ditto what Richard said about the miters. Beautiful and tight. Nice job, it really looks nice and a nice choice of woods.

[BobSch]

Beautiful work. Your first project? You like to jump in the deep end of the pool, don't you?

[SARGE..g-47]

Excellent execution on the box for your wife and first time too. You raised the level on miters which might lead me to believe you are a trim carpenter or similar? A first time wood-worker doesn't nail the bulls-eye on the first shot or many there-after for that matter. Lucky is not usually a term you use when cutting miters is concerned.

Where did you get the "crabwood"? Possibly from a flooring project? I have seen a few moulding that were andiroba here in Georgia and our neck of the woods (south) in general but not that often and that covers a few years of snooping around lumber yards. Can you get it in small quanties or was it left over from a bulk buy of some nature?

Again.. fantastic job on the box as I am sure your wife was extremely pleased to get it.

Regards from Northeast Georgia...

[nothing]

Nice work on the miters. Very tight. How about some construction and finishing details. We would love to hear more.

I followed some plans I found on the net, I think it came from FWW. My wife's box was the first one and there was a lot of scraps left. Mostly from trying to get the angle on the miters set. I discovered painters tape is great for preventing tearout. On my wife's box the maple panel on top has about a 1/8" gap. This is from the plans. I really didn't care for it as much, so on my parents I decided to leave the stock thicker, use a roundover bit and make it wide enough to remove the gap.

The dados for the top and bottom panel were made with a thin kerf blade so I had to make two passes. It was the only blade I had that cut a flat bottom thin enough. My dado set was too wide. The rabbets for the maple panel were made on a router table. I made a jig to ride on my miter guage for the splined miters. Used my thin kerf blade for these and again made two passes.

The finish is just BLO. I put a heavy coat on the first day and work it in the poors with cloth. The next day I put on a coat and rub it out with 600 grit sandpaper. From there I put a coat on every other day using 1000 grit. I probably went with about 4 or 5 coats total, I just go until the wood doesn't seem to absorb anymore oil. Then I follow up with paste wax. Basically I'm trying to keep the finish as natural as possible. Of course there is a yellow hint from the BLO. I also like the fact the finish is easy to repair, just remove the wax, sand, apply BLO and sand.

I had a blast making them. I've actually made three now. The first one took me a week, after that I was able to finish the construction in a couple of days. Still slow, but as my father-in-law says, "it's about the journey".

Thanks for all the great comments. I'm still in disbelief that I actually made these. I'll let you guys in on a secret...


















I failed shop in junior high (19 years ago). I couldn't make a straight cut to save my life.

[Richard in Smithville]

Thanks for the reply. Have you ever thought of cutting the BLO 50/50 with mineral spirits? It helps cut curing time and I think it helps the oil soak in better. Just my humble opinion.

[lrogers]

Those look real nice! Bet you made some folks VERY happy.

[Uncle Cracker]

I failed shop in junior high (19 years ago).

You weren't failing, you were saving your talent for a more opportune time...

[drillman88]

Nice work and choices of wood.The splined miters really pull everything together.Im sure your wife appreciates your effort.

[nothing]

Thanks for the reply. Have you ever thought of cutting the BLO 50/50 with mineral spirits? It helps cut curing time and I think it helps the oil soak in better. Just my humble opinion.

I think I read that somewhere, but I've never tried it. I'll try to remember for the next project. Thanks